Blood on My name (Avert Thy Mortal Eyes)
by Nuggalolisk
Summary: Family? Murdered. Lives? Collapsing. Status? Fugitives. Twin sisters, one convicted of a terrible crime, the other committed against her will. Years after the murders, the sisters are on the run. Life tries to begin again at their family's southern home in the Bayou, but sinister secrets linger in the murky water that threaten to destroy the girls and every thing they hold dear.
1. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Louisiana**

Screaming: high pitched and echoing in the stiff black night of the Louisiana bayou. A serrated knife cut through flesh like it was a raw steak. The trees shivered as the young girl's throes pierced the humidity lingering in the air. It was echoing in her ears: the sound of her flesh being ripped and forced into, torn open so the offensive air could burrow its way inside to make a new home.

"There's p'wer in the blood." Their voice was deep, wet sounding. They drug the knife into her soft brown flesh again and again, twisting it through the sinews of corded muscle. Her small hand spasmed against the bloody earth until it went still. "The offering is made."

Her brown eyes stared open and unseeing at a starless sky, tears still slowly leaking from the corners: the bayou will take them like it will take her. A crow cried and fluttered from a broken branch of a Bald Cypress tree. They looked up, eyes watching the black wings slice through the moon. Their nostrils flared, taking in the scent of nutrient-rich dirt made sweet with blood and the rot of the bayou water. White eyes turned back to the body on the ground. Long crooked fingers lifted a smear of blood from her warm cheek. They rose to them to their forehead and fingers drew a sigil long forgotten until that night.

"The Beast is ready."

 **Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina**

Aurea flung her body up right, her hand searching for the gun she kept under her pillow. The scream passed through the walls again. Cold metal stung her hand as she wrapped her long fingers around the flesh of the gun. Her bare legs swung themselves from the bed and carried her swiftly down the hall towards her sister's room. She held the gun parallel to the floor, keeping it aimed in front of her as she gripped the doorknob. Her skin was tight like drum waiting to be hit, and the anticipation made it ache. She waited a breath.

Silence.

Aurea swung the door open, letting it smack softly against the wall as she scanned the room. Nox was already sitting up on the bed, long black hair hanging like a shroud around her pale face.

"Nox?" It was whispered, tentative. Slowly, the gun lowered till it was pointing at the floor, finger still firmly pressed against the trigger. The windows were open, stirring the white curtains like ghosts in the thick of night.

"There's p'wer in the blood." Her voice was strangely deep, thick like mud.

"What?"

"The Beast is ready." Nox's head lifted, hair parting like the Red Sea. Her eyes were unfocused, catching the moonlight and reflecting it in a way they shouldn't.

Three seconds to late, Aurea registered a small creak on the stairs. Hairs in the kitchen of her neck stood like thousands of hands preforming the sieg heil. She turned, feeling hot and sticky breath slither its way over her neck and shoulders. She kept her gun aimed high and scanned the room and what she could see of the hall for a person she logically understood to not be there. The darkness crept from the corners of the room and shadows reached like fingers towards Aurea. It was colder than she remembered and her bones ached with it. As if in a fire, all the oxygen was sucked from the room and it left her gasping.

"Are we?" Softer now, sharp and painful like a child ready to cry.

The blonde turned and watched her sister fall softly to the bed. The room grew brighter, the shadows retreating to their rightful places, the smothering North Carolina heat invading the small room again.

"Nox?"

A sleepy sigh flittered into the air as Nox rolled onto her left side. After a few moments Aurea left the room carefully and shut the door. It would do neither of them any good to wake her. In the bright light of the full moon, she checked the time on her watch. Menacingly, it ticked by.

 _3:27 am._

She sighed and went to put her gun away. There was no point in going back to sleep. Thanks to the antics of her twin, she was wide awake. "There's power in the blood…What the hell does that even mean?"

She entered her room without turning on a light. The gun slipped silently beneath the right pillow, and Aurea grabbed a white silk-tulle robe from the floor and slipped it over her bare arms. Coffee was in order. Lots of black coffee. _Hell, maybe I can sneak a cigarette before she wakes up completely._

Still, Aurea couldn't shake the feeling that something was in that room with them. Ever since she was a child, her instincts were always right. Never once did they lead her astray in anything that she did.

 _Don't be fucking ridiculous. Nox has had nightmares before. And hell, look where you just broke her out of. She's going to be a little creepy for a while._

Softly, her feet walked her down the stairs, avoiding the places she knew would creak under her weight. They were old stairs, softening in some places, the varnish and stain wearing off in spots. When she hit carpet, Aurea was less careful. They would have to leave the house soon. The family, a Mr. and Mrs. Austin Kitch (the names she got from the mail piled on the inside of the door), would probably be back from vacation soon. Besides, sitting in one place for so long could only end badly. No one would suspect them if they saw them in public; thanks to the news nearly everyone believed the sisters were dead. Killed while trying to escape templar custody. The templars were still searching for them, even if no one else was.

She poured in ten tablespoons of grounds and snapped the lid shut. The coffee pot hissed and sputtered to life, offended at the early hour as much as Aurea was. Silently, she hoped onto the counter and let her legs dangle off the edge. A package of kreteks was pulled from the underside of a cabinet. _At the rate my life is going, I might as well smoke two at a time._ The lighter flared to life in her hands and for a moment, just past the orange and blue glow of the butane flame, Aurea thought she saw a figure. She closed the lid and drew a deep puff from the cigarette. Whatever, or whoever had been there, was gone now. She felt strange: she knew the figure was not there, not really, but somehow, it was.

The nicotine did little to sooth her nerves. Nails clicked on the Tuscan tile of the kitchen floor and Aurea blew smoke out of her mouth.

"And just where have you been?" she asked slowly.

Hadar sniffed the air and huffed.

"I don't need a lecture about cigarettes from a dog." She patted the counter beside her and watched as the mabari lumbered his way up. "Go see that pretty poodle down the way? A little pretentious for you, don't you think?"

Hadar wuffed and laid his head on Aurea's thick thigh. She placed a hand on the back of his head and pet him softly.

"I'll make you a deal, Hadar. You don't tell Nox I'm still smoking and I won't tell her that you're the one that ate her pickled eggs." She scratched under his chin and he licked her fingers softly. "Good boy."

 _"I can't believe your sister likes pickled eggs." Alistair wrinkled his nose in disgust._

 _"I know. She and dad both. It's like they're trying to be disgusting. Mom gets so mad because dad always tries to kiss her after he eats them and she can't even stand the smell of them. He chases her around with his lips all puckered up."_

 _Aurea swished her ankles. Alistair had yet to remove her legs from his lap. She laid back with her head in the grass, arms relaxed at her sides. The grass tickled the back of her ankles and the tips of her ears._

 _"You have a bug in your hair."_

 _"Is it a spider?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Then I'm fine," she said with a nod. "You sure you don't want any of this?" She raised her hand from the grass and presented the joint to him. When he shook his head she shrugged and took another drag. The clouds moved slowly over the light blue sky as the breezed moved over the friends._

 _Alistair's warm hands rested lightly over her thighs. She could feel them shake slightly. He was cute. Shy and dorky, but cute. She smiled lazily and rolled her head to the side. Hadar leapt up from the tall weeds and wild flowers every now and again to let them know where he was._

 _"One of these days, Alistair Theirin, I'm going to leave this place. And I'm not gonna look back."_

The coffee had stopped brewing some time ago. Aurea shook her head to clear the memories, or perhaps will them away, and grabbed a cup from above her head. She did leave that place, just not how she thought she would. The sound of the coffee pouring into the mug was a comforting sound. The smell that mingled with the scent of cloves and vanilla was pleasant and reminded her of home.

"We need to leave here, boy."

The coffee burnt her tongue, but she kept drinking. The urge to call her cousins welled up again. It was tempting, however, templars would have tapped their phone, they would expect Aurea or Nox to call. The urge was resisted.

"I thought you told momma you were going to quit?" Nox asked quietly from the doorway.

 _So today is a bad day._ "Are you going to tell on me?" Aurea looked up, but continued to inhale the smoke.

"I can't if she's dead, Aurea."

 _Good day it is then._ "Sorry. I just didn't know if you…"

"Remembered that I got blamed for killing our family? I remember."


	2. The Maker Is Coming

_Okay, so Ff is really starting to tick me off. Until I can figure out how to get my markers to stay where they are, I'm going to have to use page breaks. I apologize in advance._

* * *

"And what if I don't want to leave here, Aurea?" Nox stirred the stew in the pot slowly, watching the contents swirl around.

"Nox, this isn't our house. Eventually, these people are going to come home." Aurea crossed her ankles and swung them back and forth, heels hitting the cabinets lightly.

"I know that. I mean here, in this town. I like being able to see the ocean."

Aurea rubbed her forehead. "Nox. They're still looking for us. We'll be safe in Parish. You know dad had that place locked down tighter than a Chantry Sister's cun–"

"I just..." Nox pushed the stew around the pot again. She could feel Aurea's gold eyes on her. After a moment of silence, her sister's arms wrapped around her waist, and her chin rested on her shoulder.

"I know." Aurea sighed and moved to lay her cheek down on Nox's shoulder. "But what choice do we have? It's the last thing we have of them, Nox. It's home."

Nox shrugged the shoulder that Aurea's chin rested on and turned the stove off. "It's not home, Aurea. Home died with them. We don't have a home anymore."

"We have each other."

"You can't make homes out of people, Aurea. They can burn down too."

They left the house two days later. Neither one of them mentioning the dream before they left. The 1986 Grand Cherokee carried them smoothly through the mountains just outside of Gatlinburg. Nox slept soundly in the passenger seat, her hand curled under her cheek against the window. They had been driving for about ten hours; construction adding time onto their journey. Aurea was starting to grow weary, her eyes struggled to stay focused and clear. They couldn't afford a cabin, but a hotel room would be cheap.

Her stomach made an ungodly rumbling noise and she heard Nox giggle.

"Dad, you better pull over and get Aurea something to eat," Nox said through a yawn.

Aurea kept her face neutral despite the pang in her chest. "Mom and dad are already at Parish, remember? We drove down separate because we wanted to give them a few days alone."

"Did we?" The mage sat up, pushing her thick hair out of her face.

"Yeah. We're going to stop soon though, I'm exhausted. There's a Days Inn up here somewhere. We can stay there. Hopefully, they allow dogs."

Hadar grumbled in the backseat and flopped down onto his belly.

The hotel was nice enough. Not too expensive: about sixty bucks for the night. It was sixty bucks they didn't really have, but short of sleeping in the car, there wasn't another choice. Nox took the first shower, giving Aurea a chance to check the news outlets, seeing if anyone had caught sight of them and reported seeing two supposedly dead girls traveling. It was a futile effort. _Of course, they wouldn't report on it. It's not like the templars are going to say, 'Oh, hey, yeah. Remember those girls we said were dead? Not so much dead as escaped'._

The mabari grumbled from the second bed and then let out a long whine.

"I know you're hungry. I am too. Let's see if we can find some cheap pizza or something, huh?"

As she got up to retrieve her computer from the bags, she took a moment to survey the room more completely. There was a window at the back of the room, giving them a view of the forest behind the hotel. One set of windows lined the left side of the door looking out onto the parking lot. Aurea would take the bed closest to the door in case anyone found them and broke in during the night. There was only one light switch and it was beside the bed, behind the coral colored lamp. She grabbed the computer and sat down cross-legged on the bed.

"Oh all the money that 'er I spent, I spent it in good company." Nox's voice floated out into the main room.

Aurea hadn't heard the song sung since they lost their parents. Their father, Mathias, used to sing it to them when they were little, or when he had come home from the bar. His thick voice would rumble in his chest and if you happened to be laying against it, you could feel it. Many nights, when Aurea couldn't sleep, she would sit in their living room with Hadar and watch the New York city neon lights flicker and blaze against the black of night. Her father would eventually come out and gather her up in his arms and sit with her against his chest. The pair would rest in silence until he would sing to her.

"And all the harm that 'er I've done, alas it was to none but me." Aurea joined her sister in song. Her voice was a lower pitch than Nox's, who sounded most like their mother.

"And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I can't recall. So fill to me the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all." Their voices blended together, Hadar's howling punctuating a few of the words. "But since it falls unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not. I'll gently rise and I'll softly call. Goodnight and joy be with you all."

Hadar echoed them with one last resounding howl. Aurea smiled and kissed the top of his head.

"Beautiful, Hadar! You should be an opera singer," Nox called out from the bathroom.

Aurea shook her head. "I think you're dreaming a little too big for him, Nox. He was flat on a couple of notes."

Hadar huffed and dramatically fell off the bed and onto the floor.

"And he's a bad actor."

The pizza was disgusting, but that didn't stop them from devouring it. Hadar ate three pieces. Aurea had four. Nox only ate one. Since Knickerbockers, she hadn't had much of an appetite. Aurea was worried about her: she had lost maybe fifty pounds since she last saw her. Her twin had always been skinny, but she had grown sickly looking.

Before she let herself fall into bed, Aurea decided to take a shower. She smelled like the road: sweat, cheap fast food, leather, and dirty hair. When Hadar tried to follow her into the bathroom, she stopped him.

Kneeling down to his level, she whispered, "No, boy. Stay out here and keep an eye on Nox, okay?"

Hadar whined but went back to the bed and sat beside Nox, his eyes wide in a pout.

She shut the bathroom door quietly and left it unlocked, just in case. There was a window in the shower, up high enough that no one could see you showering, but low enough that if she had to, she could push Hadar and Nox out of it. She dropped her dirty clothes to the floor in a pile, determined to break the order that was forced into her at Haven. She caught her reflection in the mirror and wrinkled her nose.

Her hair was fading from the red color she dyed it: now it was a strawberry blonde shade that she had mixed feelings about. Her gold eyes were bloodshot and tired looking, and there were deep circles under them that looked like her mascara had run and then smudged. She was getting crows feet. _A twenty-four-year-old with crow's feet_. The scar on her forehead that cut through her eyebrow was finally starting to lighten. The one on her jaw was a pale, silvery line now. The line going through her lip was starting to turn silver, leaving the angry red bits behind. The scar going from her left shoulder, over her breast, and down to her right hip was still as angry as the day she got it. The day her parents died; the day she should have died. She reached her fingers up to touch her chest and then stopped.

She took a longer shower than she probably should have. But once she got under the hot downpour, she couldn't make herself get out. Her muscles ached, her scalp itched from lack of washing. After she pulled herself from the womb of the tub, she braided her hair sloppily, pieces falling out around her face. _I need to moisturize… maybe that's why I have wrinkles already._ A luxury that would have to wait she decided as she stepped out into the chilly hotel room air.

Nox was on her side, Hadar laying across her hip and chest. She had a hand curled under her cheek, lips open in a peaceful sleep. Aurea envied her like that. She knew it was terrible for her when she actually did remember, but to not remember…Aurea would have given anything to go back. To be able to still believe that their family was alive. That their mother, their father, their sister, their nieces and their nephew, were all still alive and waiting for them in Parish. Aurea laid down on the bed and kept her eyes trained on the shadows outside the window.

* * *

They were hunting them. The streets of New Orleans were crawling with the wicked, the damned, the disillusioned, the blasphemers. Each one would make a fine sacrifice. But they didn't need fine. They needed perfect. The wretches walked around them on the street, their ancient instincts telling them to stay away, not to make eye contact with them.

 _The needle pierces the skin._

They turned their head, white hair swishing around their shoulders. _Filth_. Thin lips curled up in a snarl. The young man drops his head to the brick of the building behind him _. Disgusting_. Their footsteps crunched on the gritty pavement of Magazine street. They could smell the wickedness seep off of the boy like death on a body. He would not make a good sacrifice.

The blade glinted a rainbow of colors in the neon lights. No one saw it pierce the filth's chest. He didn't matter. No one would notice his absence. They stooped, wiping the tainted blood on the man's coat before walking on.

Their nose wrinkled in disgust: music flooded out of every open door he walked past. _Vile. Filth_. They should slaughter them all. Open up their mouth and devour them whole and screaming into the night. They would be no loss. The Beast would be thankful for their riddance.

Now was not the time. Now was the time for the second.

They stopped, catching a reflection beside theirs in a blasphemer's window. There, in the midst of the comical shrunken heads, the dead chickens, rosary beads strung up like candy, was a girl. The same from before. The damaged one. She was _looking_ at them. Looking as if she had the right to lay her lewd mage eyes upon their sacred flesh. They snarled at her, white teeth gnashing at the night. Still, she looked. They pulled the knife back out, it's simple silver handle giving them comfort.

They would teach her.

Their hand shot out, grabbing a whore that dared to walk in front of him. They pulled her back to their chest, the whore's skin shivering to get away from them. The reflection screamed, mouth opened and hands reaching out trying to break through the glass. The whore's blood sprayed the window and then her body dropped to the sidewalk. They smiled at the mage with black hair. The damaged one. _This is what happens when you watch._

They held up two fingers before continuing their march.

* * *

Nox sat up gasping. Frantically she wiped at her face and her chest, still feeling the sticky warmth of the woman's blood on her body. She pulled her hands away, expecting them to be smeared with her blood, but they came away clean. She rested her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to calm her heart. Her head remained there for a few moments, trying to piece together what exactly had happened.

She wanted her mother.

When Nox turned to check on Aurea, she found her still asleep. _Good. She needs the sleep._ Hadar, however, was wide awake and watching her with sad brown eyes. She gave him a weak smile and smoothed her long fingers over his snout. The dream had felt real, everything about it. The only strange part of it was that she was following them by way of reflections: glass, puddles, windows. At first, they couldn't see her, they went on about their business. So why suddenly did it change?

Her stomach churned the longer she thought about it. As quiet as she could, she got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. The fluorescent lights flickered on with a torturous humming nose. She shielded her eyes and shut the door before she turned the faucet on. Her skin was clammy, but she was hot – sweat was dripping down her back. It felt like she had swallowed battery acid. She caught ice cold water in her cupped hand and brought it to her lips. It did little to alleviate the burning in her throat or the pounding in her head. She could take another shower, let the cold water wash over her to see if that would help.

 _What was it Momma used to– Blood on their kitchen floor. It streaked over the tiles and settled into oddly patterned pools. Her father, face down in the red, his head turned towards their mother, his eyes open and unyielding to the light. A blade still clenched tightly in his hand. The smell of blood and burning flesh pierced her nose. Aurea and their mother fighting off four templars in the living room. Metal on metal. Metal on bone. Zi's cold hand reaching out towards her child's body: Maric._

Nox's hands clenched the sides of the sink sharply, turning her knuckles an even paler white. _They died. They died and I couldn't save them. Chok–_

"Hey."

Nox jumped at the sound of her twin's voice.

"Where'd you go?" Aurea leaned against the door frame, her arms crossed loosely over her chest.

"Where I always go." Nox shut the water off. The hum of the fluorescents was starting to give her a headache.

"Nox," Aurea stepped forward, looking for the words to say, "it wasn't your fault. None of it. What happened wasn't our fault."

"If I wasn't a mage– "

"Then I would have been. Or Zi. Or someone else. Being a mage doesn't mean that you automatically deserve bad things, or that you'll do bad things, or that you'll make bad things happen. That is Chantry bullshit. It's perpetuated by weak men and women who are afraid of what they don't have, can't have. They're afraid because they know you can step up and stop them from hurting people. And that scares them."

Aurea cupped Nox's pale face gently between her hands. "You are not a mistake. You are not a bad person. You are not at fault. Do you hear me?"

Blue eyes searched the face of her twin. "You believe that."

"Every word."

They left before dawn began to break across the sky. Aurea was beginning to resent the jeep that had become their home. The leaves were dull grays against the blue light of the early morning. By eight, they would be sparkling in shades of burgundy, yellow, orange, and red. Before they departed the hotel, Aurea had filled the small cooler in the backseat with ice, courtesy of the ice machine, and filled two-gallon jugs with water. Just outside of the city she stopped at a gas station and picked up a loaf of bread and bologna out of the cooler. She paused a moment: _Nox is a vegetarian._ With a sigh, she walked her way back and put the bologna up. She picked up the peanut butter with distaste and eyed a jar of suspicious jelly.

 _Five dollars for a jar of shady looking jelly._

Muttering to herself, she picked up the jar and made her way back to the counter. Her gaze shifted towards an older man that walked in, his hands hidden in the pockets of his jackets: his left hand grabbing ahold of something. _Could be his wallet or phone._ Still, she watched. _Could be a templar. Could be. Could be anything really_. She kept an eye on him in the mirrors strewn about the store. The man didn't watch her, not like a templar would. She paid quickly, snatching the bag from the hands of the girl behind the counter.

The man followed.

The last thing Aurea wanted was to cause a scene in daytime next to a busy highway. When she reached the driver's side door she turned around, her hand gripping a blade she had in the back of her jeans.

"Easy darlin'! You dropped this in the store." The man held out her silver lighter in a shaky hand. "Don't want no trouble. I got enough of that."

Her face softened. The man was a lyrium addict. Or a recovering addict. From his shaking hands, sunken cheeks, yellow eyes, and constricted pupils, he was in withdraws. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." She withdrew her hand from her blade and took the lighter from his fingers. "Thank you."

The man nodded and started to walk away from her. She had two seconds of doubt before she called out to him. When he turned around, Aurea handed him a ten dollar bill from her back pocket. "Here."

He seemed skeptical to take it from her, his eyes watching hers for a few moments before he skittishly took it from her. "Thank you."

She nodded. She wouldn't tell him to get something to eat. He could do with it what he wanted. If he wanted a fix, he could get a fix. She watched him leave, pocketing the cash she handed him. It wasn't much, but it was all she could reasonably spare.

Eight hours later the soft sounds of the radio were broken.

"Aurea, I'm tired." Nox's voice was a small whine. Her entire body felt like one giant bruise, muscles stiff and twitchy. "Aurea, where's mommy? I don't feel well."

The blonde twin turned her head slightly to look at her sister. The raven-haired girl was tucked into herself tightly, her brow dotted with small beads of sweat. Her hands were clenched tightly by her face, nails digging into her soft palms.

"Okay, Nox. Mom's at the hotel. We'll be there soon."

They couldn't afford a hotel, but Aurea could not in good conscious keep driving with Nox the way that she was. She pulled the jeep off at the nearest exit. The sun was low in the sky, two hours from setting behind the large pines that littered the horizon. At the bottom of the exit Aurea looked in both directions. There were no signs telling her if there were towns near. She could turn on her phone, use GPS, but the templars were no doubt tracing it. Her eyes closed for a moment, trying to make her intuition louder than the whimpers of her sister and the whines of the worried dog in the backseat.

 _Left._ She turned the jeep and hoped she was right. The road was narrow and faded to a soft gray, the lines in the middle patchy and dull.

 _Silent 24 ml —_

 _Silent, Alabama, huh?_

She turned the car towards the right, praying Silent had a hotel. The road was gravel and her tires churned up a swell of dust that made the air pregnant with tan particles. Cotton grew high on either side of the road. It had been a long time since Aurea had seen cotton before it could be harvested. A large run-down billboard loomed over them in the distance.

 _The Maker is Coming._

"Hold on, Nox."


	3. The Power Protects

Silent, Alabama lived up to its name. The streets were empty of people, a few cars strewn about the faded roads. A couple were parked in front of a laundromat with a neon pink sign that lit up half of the dusky street. The rest appeared to be gathered at what was the only restaurant in town. Ahead, just on the other side of the small metropolis, was a dingy green motel sign with a flashing red _vacancy_ sign. The street light beside the Jeep flickered menacingly before shutting off completely.

"We're almost there, Nox."

The motel manager barely looked up from his tv long enough to get a good look at Aurea's tired face. All that mattered was that she paid with cash. It was a chore to try to get Nox out of the car. In the end, Aurea carried her like a bride into the hotel room. Hadar followed behind, Aurea's bag clenched between his powerful jaws. She sat Nox on the bed and went into the bathroom to run bath water. She made sure the water was lukewarm before she walked back out into the yellow main room.

"Come on, Nox. You'll feel better after a bath." She looped Nox's arm around her shoulders and stood her up slowly.

"Aurea, where's momma? Where's daddy? Aurea, I want to go home. Why can't I go home?"

"We're heading home, Nox. We just stopped for the night."

Nox's head lolled back, her neck bared to the ceiling. "Aurea, there's so much blood. Why is there so much blood?"

"There's no blood, Nox."

Nox's frail body went limp in her twin's arms. Her legs shook and ached like a muscle cramp. A throbbing began to take up residence behind her eyes, at the back of her skull, against her forehead. There was so much blood.

Aurea sat Nox down on the toilet and began to undress her carefully. She watched her sister's pale face in the bright fluorescent lights of the bathroom. She was crying: fat tears that rolled down her cheeks swiftly to smack on the hands she held weakly in her lap. Nox's shirt was tossed out into the main room where it landed in front of the bed. The black bra she wore followed shortly after. It took some maneuvering to get her pants and underwear off.

Hadar sat outside the bathroom door, his eyes drooped with concern.

"Hadar, go shut the car door, okay?" Aurea watched as he huffed but otherwise did as he was told.

She slid Nox heavily down into the bathwater, reaching up to shut it off when she was seated. Aurea washed her gently, massaging cramped muscles as she went. Her gaze flittered over scars that marred Nox's pale flesh. Silvery, flitting sections of small flesh that weaved their way in and out of freckles.

"Where's Zizi, Aurea?"

"She's with mom and dad, Nox. Remember? We're meeting them in Parish. Dad wanted to take us on vacation. You're alright. Let's get you bathed and then in bed, yeah? You'll feel better after you sleep. We both just need sleep."

It wasn't exactly a lie: they both did need sleep very much. Even though sleep was all Nox did on the trip down. Not that it was a restful sleep. Aurea eased Nox's hair out of a braid.

"Tilt your head back for me. That's it." She reached up and grabbed a small plastic cup from the sink.

"Stone cold broke in the middle of the winter. Oh, like a poor man's son," she sang quietly, but it still echoed in the acoustics of the small pale green bathroom.

The cup rose and fell, rose and fell, dumping water gently over Nox's thick black hair. "Hadar? Could you bring me my bag?"

When she turned around, Hadar already had it between his teeth. She patted his soft head before digging out small bottles of shampoo and conditioner. She picked the tune of the song back up softly and gently cradled Nox's head as she poured a small amount of shampoo on her scalp. When it was sufficiently soaked, Aurea soaped up her long fingers before she set them to Nox's scalp. She felt the warmth of Hardar's flank press against her thigh and was grateful for the small show of support. Her nails ran over Nox's scalp, massaging gently and lathering up her hair. The nape of her twin's neck rested heavily on her scarred forearm.

 _She looks so vulnerable._ Aurea could feel her mouth pulling into a prominent frown.

"Momma?" Nox turned her head towards her sister, her eyes closed to the harsh light.

Aurea remained silent.

That night, Aurea stayed awake watching the painting on the wall turn a light red with the flashing of the vacancy sign. The hum from the lights was enough to drive anyone mad if they listened long enough. Her sister laid beside her on the bed, curled tightly on her side with her back to Aurea. Hadar was stretched out at the bottom of the bed, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. She let her head fall slowly back against the wall and finally closed her eyes.

 _She was back in their Georgia home. The deep brown wood of their kitchen floor rose up beneath her bare feet. A woman stood in front of the white counters, her back to Aurea. Her blonde hair was tied up in an intricate braid around her head. She was small, her frame short and lithe. Her hands were chopping something: the sound was almost soothing. The air even smelled like it used to._

* * *

 _"There you are, darling."_

 _Her throat tightened at the sound of her mother's voice._

 _"Momma?"_

 _Esmé turned around and smiled warmly at one of her youngest daughters. "Hello, doudou."_

 _Her breath caught in her throat. Without hesitation, Aurea ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her tightly, her hands fisting in the upper back of her shirt. Esmé's hands soothed over Aurea's blonde hair. She smelled like green herbs, lotus and water lilies. She smelled like home._

 _"Shhh, shhh. Easy, my darling. It's alright now. Momma's here." She pressed her lips to her daughter's temple. "You've been so brave, my doudou. So strong and so brave. Hasn't she Mathias?"_

 _Her father's loud voice boomed from behind her. "Of course she has. She is ours after all."_

 _Aurea let go of her mother at the sound and turned to look at her father. His black beard was thick and well kept, but the hair on top of his head was messy and full of cowlicks. He was as tall as she remembered, but he was bigger across. His shoulders were broader, stronger than she remembered._

 _"Daddy?"_

 _His face broke into a large smile and he held his arms open for her. She ran to him, leaping against him when she finally reached him. His arms wrapped around her upper back tightly, keeping her to his chest as her feet lifted from the ground._

 _Esmé walked to join them, her delicately deadly hands rubbing Aurea's back. Then she smoothed one of them over Aurea's hair again._

 _Aurea cried into her father's neck, her arms clinging tighter and tighter around him. He smelled the same: cloves, tobacco, black dirt, sweat, apples._

 _"My brave pup. We've missed you."_

 _She nodded against him, her throat tight._ I've missed you too.

 _Her mother's voice was soft behind her. "You must listen to us, doudou. There's a storm coming. Do you hear me? They're strong this storm. They want blood. You must go to Parish, go home, Aurea. It will protect you. The power protects its own."_

 _"Remember what we've taught you, pup. There's power in the blood. The beast is ready."_

 _Aurea pulled back to look at her father. "What are you," she stopped. A scream lodged in her throat._

 _Mathias was bleeding, his eyes white, his veins turning black under his skin. Aurea pushed away from him, turning to look at her mother. Esmé was on the floor, blood pooling around her, creeping towards Aurea's bare feet. Her mother's green eyes were open and unseeing. The white cabinets were splattered with blood. It dripped from the counters, from the knobs, from the blades clenched in Esmé's hands just like the night she died._

 _The blood reached her feet, surrounding them like molasses. She backed up, watching the red liquid follow._

 _"You've got blood on your name, Aurea."_

 _Her gaze snapped up from the bloody lake on the floor. It was a person. Or used to be a person. Now it was grotesque. Its eyes were white, spider-webbed with grey veins. Its hair was long and a pale silver. She watched as blood dripped, slow motion, from long crooked fingers._

 _Fear._

 _She couldn't breathe the air was so thick with it. Aurea didn't know what it was, but she knew, somewhere in her being, that it was ancient and that it should be feared._

 _"The Beast will have you."_

* * *

She opened her eyes with a start. Her clothes clung to her body from sweat. She quickly wiped tears from her face before turning to look at her sister. Nox still slept, her hands curled by her cheek. Aurea turned her face back towards the end of the bed and rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers. A large wet tongue slid across her chin.

"Hello, Hadar." She ran her hands over his snout before kissing his nose. "Sit with her?"

Outside was chilly for the south, but it felt good against her bare flesh. There was a gas station one block down on a corner. She needed cigarettes. Badly. She looked at the door to their hotel room for a few moments, debating on if she should risk it and if she could live without her nicotine, before she turned on her heel and started walking. Hadar could protect Nox for the few minutes it would take her to leave. And if anything did happen to go down while she was gone, she was sure she could hear Hadar howl from four miles away.

The door to the gas station opened for her with a quiet ding.

"There's a storm comin'."

The blonde stopped in her tracks. "What did you say?"

The scrawny boy behind the counter looked confused. "There's a storm comin' in? It's about ten minutes out." For clarity, he pointed to a radar on a small tv on a shelf.

"Oh. Right." She looked at her choices of cigarettes and sighed. They were supposed to be saving money. "Can I get two packs of Hothouse cloves?" While pulling her wallet out of her back pocket, Aurea spied a selection of prepaid phones hanging above the cigars. "How much is the cheapest prepaid you have?"

The kid sat the cigarettes down on the dingy pink counter and looked over his shoulder at them. "Ten bucks. Comes with a sixty-minute card."

"I'll take that one then."

Back outside, she could tell the storm was moving in: the wind had started to pick up, the air still had the sharp chill to it, and it was quiet. It took her a few moments to get the phone set up. She dialed without even having to think about it.

"This had better be good."

"Lark?"

There was silence on the end of the line for a few moments. "Aurea?"

"Hey."

"Where the flying fuck have you been!"

"You know I can't tell you that. We're safe. We're...safe. That's all that matters."

"How are you calling? Your number came up blocked."

"I blocked it. It's a burner phone. I can't talk long, I just...I wanted to hear your voice."

There was a sigh, a long one filled with sadness. "Aurea, just...tell me where you are."

"I can't, Lark. Did you get my letter? I have Hadar. How is everyone? Garrett, Carver, Aunt Leandra? How are they?"

"They're worried about you two, Aurea. This is the first time we've heard from you in months."

"It's not like I can give you a map to my location, Lark. I...Shit, I have to go."

"Aurea, don't. Wait, please. If Mom could just hear—"

"I can't. I love you. Nox loves you. I'll… I'll be in touch when I can."

She hung up quickly, a sob stuck in her throat. It hurt more than she thought it would. There was one more number she wanted to call. She didn't even know if it was still in service, but she dialed all the same.

It rang four times before it was answered.

"Time 's't?"

She took a breath in, ready to say his name and then stopped.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Alistair. It's—"

"Aurea. Oh Maker, Aurea." He said her name in a breathless way that made her heartache.

She could feel her throat tightening again. "H-hey."

"Where are you? Are you hurt? Are you okay? They said you were dead. What happened? Where's Nox? Maker, your cousins."

"Alistair, slow down. It's okay. We're fine. Everyone is fine. I just talked to Lark."

The clouds above her head were churning a pale orange above the street lights. A fat drop of rain landed on her nose.

There were sounds of blankets shuffling on the other end of the line. Silence took place between them for several moments. Aurea starting and stopping whenever she tried to say something to him. He came to visit her once in Haven Correctional.

* * *

 _Aurea sat at the white table, in a white chair, starting at a white wall. Everything was so clean and polished. It made her want to drive her head into the nearest wall. They told her she had a visitor. She suspected it was her aunt._

 _"Aurea?" Alistair's voice cut through the monotony._

 _Her head snapped up. A few strands of blonde hair swung in front of her face._

 _"Alistair?" She stood up when he got closer. He was taller than she remembered, bigger too._

 _He grabbed her in a hug, ignoring the protesting cough from the guard behind them. She hugged him back, slowly at first and then she leaned into him. Her face buried in his neck and she stayed there. He smelled so much better than the air around her. It always smelled like pledge, bleach, and pine sol. Alistair. . . Alistair smelled like oranges, leather, shaving cream, and some kind of fabric softener._

 _"I've been worried about you. Are they treating you okay?"_

 _Aurea choked back a laugh._

 _"Right. Sorry. We're trying to get you out of here. I've talked to Dad."_

 _"Just. Shut up for a minute and stand here like this."_

 _Alistair did as she asked, keeping his arms wrapped tight around her. He rested his chin on top of her head, eventually turning to rest his cheek there._

 _He felt like home._

* * *

"I dreamed about them," she finally said after ten minutes of silence.

"You dreamed about who?" He sounded more awake then.

Aurea began the walk back to their hotel room. "Mom and Dad. Only…"

"Only what, Aurea?" He was answered by the sound of wind. "You can tell me, Aurea. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I don't think it was a dream. I mean… I know it was a dream, obviously, but there was something different about it. Alistair, I felt them, I smelled them." She ran her hand through her hair. Thunder clapped loud overhead.

"Aurea…"

"Don't give me that. Don't say my name like that, not you. It _was_ real, Alistair. They told me a storm was coming, and wouldn't you know it, I woke up and there's a storm blowing in. But there was something else. Something that wasn't right. There was a person or demon. I'm not sure. It had white eyes and white hair. It told me that I had blood on my name. That 'the beast' would have me."

"Aurea where are you?"

She wanted to tell him. It was on the tip of her tongue. _Silent, Alabama. Come get me. Please come and take me home._

"I can't tell you that. But I'm safe. She's safe." Lightning flashed across the sky.

"You're dreaming about demons, Aurea. That isn't safe. Just… tell me where you are. They haven't tapped my phone; I can come to-"

The line went dead.

Aurea stood in the street, staring at the useless burner phone in her hand. She started walking again, quicker than before, trying to make it back to the hotel before the rain started. She could hear it coming up behind her, sweeping over the sleepy town. The first few drops that hit her back were like ice. By the time she reached their hotel room, she was drenched clean to the bone. She unlocked the door with shaky hands and pushed her way inside, latching it securely again once she was in. Hadar was still on the bed, just like she left him. Nox had turned in her sleep and slung an arm over him.

A soft light washed over the room when Aurea turned on one of the nightlights. As quietly as she could, she began pulling clothes off, hanging them on the chair to dry before daylight. Just as she was about to turn the light off, something on the floor caught her eye. She paused and straightened herself up: there on the floor next to her side of the bed were two bloody footprints that led over towards the door.


	4. Stand Up

The day seemed to drag on. Aurea stuck to the back roads on the way to Parish. The phone calls she made the night before made her especially paranoid. She knew there was no way they could find them. templars would no doubt be looking for them on highways. Even though they had no idea what type of car they were driving. The back roads felt safer, more secure. Less people meant less templars. It would take them longer to get to Parish, but in the end, it would be worth it.

She hoped.

The longer they drove, the further and further they pushed into darker territory of backwoods. The roads turned from asphalt to gravel that was as dry as bone, sending up a cloud so thick someone could choke on it. They passed through several small towns. Each one had more churches than it did schools. Some of the towns so run down and decrepit, they looked like ghost towns. They drove by a river where a preacher was baptizing members of his flock. The water they were in was a shade of muddy green. Several dozen people stood around the two in the water, their hands outstretched and raised high above their heads.

Aurea envied them. She envied those that could cling blindly to something that no one knew even existed. People that had not felt loss so great that they lost all faith, hope, religion, love for a creator. Love for a creator that abandoned his people, that could inflict such pain and despair. Hatred was all she felt for the Maker and his religion. For the Chantry. Especially for the Chantry. Every member of that cult could burn for all she cared. She would start the fire if she had to.

The Chantry was to blame for this. They called them monsters. They encouraged tranquility for those that were too strong to be controlled, too strong to be kept quiet and subdued. Those that caused too much trouble. The Chantry bred hate. Of course, it was a source of hope for some, of love, but for others, it was a reason to hate what they did not, could not, understand. Mages were put on a list when their powers were developed. They were bound to the circles, tracked with their own blood so if they tried to escape, tried to go home, they could be dragged back where they were made tranquil. They were kept in prison, all because they were considered as monsters, weapons, and not people.

She stretched her fingers out from the steering wheel. It had escaped her attention that her knuckles had turned white from how hard she was gripping the wheel. Her gaze traveled to Nox in the passenger seat. She was still asleep, her brow knitted and her lips pulled into a harsh frown. She had put on a little weight. When Aurea got to her, she was nothing more than bones covered with skin. Her hair was still dull, but it was no longer as bad as it was. She turned her gaze back to the road and lost herself.

* * *

 _The door opened and closed with a loud and determined smack that echoed under the cement awning connected to the hospital. Aurea's shoulders pulled back, her spine straightened into a stiff rod, one hand held her briefcase loosely at her right side, while her left relaxed against her skirt. The Uber pulled away slowly, the tires grinding against the black pavement. Two templars were posted by the door, each one carefully eyeing the redhead in front of them. She pretended she didn't feel their gaze on her._

 _Not a moment was spared before she stalked into the lobby, bypassing the templars like she owned the place. The floor of the lobby was a giant templar insignia: the point of the sword started at the doors and the pommel ended in front of the information desk. Deep red furniture was situated in a way that each person was always visible to the various templars stationed around the room. Large Roman columns sat two by two on each side of the white marble of the information desk. Their floor to ceiling frames blocked Aurea's view to both sets of stairs._

 _"Charlotte Lulane, I am here to check up on my client," Aurea started before she even reached the desk fully. She checked the watch on her wrist with a sigh._

 _"And your patient is…" The man behind the counter raised perfectly trimmed eyebrows at her._

 _"Is it honestly my job to tell you that? You should have had her file up the moment I waltzed into this place. Honestly. With the lax security and nonchalance of this… facility, I'm surprised you have not had more breakouts. Get me Knight-Commander Meredith. Now."_

 _Aurea watched with disgust in the form of a raised eyebrow as the man opened and closed this mouth like a salmon pulled from the river._

 _"Oh, for Maker's sake. Nox Amell. She is to be made tranquil and I need to discuss this with her one last time before it is done." A polished nail picked a stray piece of lint from her suit and let it fall to the floor. "Even mages have rights, unfortunately. And we must abide by them until someone wises up and takes them from them."_

 _She looked up into the man's face._ Dark circles under blue eyes, no sleep. Bifocals perched on the edge of his nose. Make sure you hold the badge away from his face. Thick arms, not from working out. No physical strength. Clearly a pencil pusher behind a desk. Has no direct connection to anyone of significance _._

 _"Now, I need you to get me to my client within the next five minutes, or I will miss my two o'clock with Frederico at Visage. He costs five hundred a minute. And if I am late, he still charges. So, let's get those computers moving."_

 _Her smile held a bite to it: a rattlesnake hidden in dragonthorn. Several templars guarding the elevators turned their heads to watch the force of nature that just walked into their domain. Aurea ignored them all, treating them like inanimate objects._

 _"Y-yes, Ma'am. She is on floor six room seven."_

 _"I'll take the stairs, thank you." She spun on her heal quickly and with determination. She started to round the last column when the voice behind her stopped its stuttering and called out to her._

 _"Ma'am!" his voice called loudly, alerting more templars from their places._

 _"What?" It was a growl, with a sharp snap on the t. A dragon circling a cow._

 _Pencil pusher's eyes widened. He stammered for a few moments before he cleared his throat. "We no longer allow the stairs to be used. You must take the elevator."_

 _Aurea started off towards the nearest elevator and was stopped once again._

 _"You need a security card."_

 _Her jaw cinched together and she turned slowly on her heels. "Then get me one." Each word was punctuated by a forceful step._

 _"I-I am not legally allowed to- "_

 _Aurea licked her lips slowly. This was not what she needed. This was a kink in her plan. If she could not use the stairs her entire plan was ruined_. I'm going to have to wing it.

 _"Legally, I can sue you six ways from Sunday." A complete and total lie._

 _"Let us not be so hasty."_

 _She recognized the voice before she saw the face. Hair on the back of her neck stood up, her body ran cold, her face felt hot, and her hand clenched on the handle of her briefcase. Ryan Castland._

* * *

 _"I said kill him." Black boots paced in front of Aurea's slightly opened eyes._

 _"Ser, he's only a child. He's not seen any of us to know our faces- "_

 _"Kill him. Put a bolt through his heart. Quick. He's her nephew. She would make it quick. Mage or not. This has to be believable. Everyone dies."_

 _Aurea could feel the blood slowly slipping out of her chest. She needed to move. She needed to get up and stop this. He was her nephew. He was only six. Nox was just feet from her, body just as broken and bruised as Aurea was._

 _"But Ser- "_

 _"Perhaps she takes out one more templar. Hm? How about that? Maybe this one," a steeled-toe boot connected with Aurea's sternum, "slits your throat while you're distracted? Or maybe, maybe the mage burns you alive."_

 _It took everything Aurea had not to gasp when the boot connected. Her vision was slipping, her ears filling with cotton and her slowing heartbeat._

 _"Kill him."_

* * *

 _"Mr. Castland, how nice to see you again." Aurea swallowed the bile in her throat and smiled with all her teeth._

 _Castland tilted his head to the side slightly and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Have we met before, Mrs. . ."_

 _Aurea feigned hurt with her left hand placed over her heart. "Why Mr. Castland. I'm hurt you don't remember me. It's_ Miss _Lulane." She smiled and extended her hand for him to kiss. She tried not to let her skin ripple with disgust. "And of course you've not met me before. I was simply hoping that you would pretend like you know me. And we could skip all the awkward introductions. I am quite a fan of yours."_

 _His smiled oozed with radiance. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Miss Lulane." His hand still held fast to hers. "Let us get you to your client. Though, I'm not sure what you expect to get out of her."_

 _"Whatever I can."_

 _She allowed herself to be lead over to her elevators, maintaining polite conversation._

 _"You've made it just in time, haven't you? She is to be made Tranquil tomorrow morning." He linked his arm through hers as they walked._

Control yourself _. "You give me too much credit for doing my job, Mr. Castland."_

 _"Ryan, please."_

 _Id scanned. Level five clearance. Password 78651. 78651. 78651. 78651. "Ryan it is then. Tell me, how can you stand to work in a place surrounded by these monsters? I get to go home at the end of my day. And yet here you remain."_

 _The inside of the elevator was dark wood panels, and the templar insignia was on the floor yet again. Two security cameras: back left corner, front right corner. A soft ding accompanied the elevator doors as they began to close._ Breathe _._

 _"Someone has to do it. It would be easier if they were all Tranquil though. More use for them then. Did you know we are currently working on isolating the gene that holds magic? Then we can weed it out much easier. Fetuses that are found to hold the gene may be aborted." He kept his eyes on Aurea's face as he spoke with hope and astonishment._

 _Aurea turned to him and smiled before looking at the elevator doors once again. "That sounds truly fascinating. And very useful. Think of how many less monstrosities we would have."_

 _ **One**. _

_**Two**. _

_**Three**. _

_"Yes, quite. Especially for nobility that have magic in their bloodlines. Though, none of them would admit it." His chuckle was deep._

 _ **Four**. _

_"Of course they would never admit it! It would only prove something is very wrong with them."_

 _ **Five**. _

_**Six**. _

_Aurea calmly exited the elevator as the doors slid open. "Thank you for your help, Ryan. If you have not taken…certain vows, please give me a call sometime? I would love to get to know you so much better." She turned and smiled, flashing white, sharp teeth._

 _Ryan's smile grew to match hers, only much more dangerous. "Of course. My vows are not quite as restrictive as some. As I hope you will find out. It was a pleasure."_

 _Mercifully the doors closed on their interaction. Aurea took a breath and turned to the right. Nox's room would be at the end of the hall. She ignored the templars in the hall and continued her walk._

 _"I will need one of you to unlock door seven." Not one of them made a move. "Now. Or should I go and fetch Mr. Castland again? I would hate to drag him out of his important day."_

 _Clanging of metal on marble signaled at least one was following her. She walked languidly, rolling her neck and her hips._ Better they were to look at my ass than at my face _. The hallway was eerily quiet. She would have expected there to be screams or at least crying. Maybe moaning. The doors were thick metal, probably a mix of dragon bone and everite. It would be impossible to break them down if it was needed. There were no windows on the doors, no weak spot that could be seen. Which means they would have to be opened and closed to get medicine or food._

 _Aurea waited in front of her sister's door patiently, expertly hiding her anxiousness and nerves. "Has she been properly drugged?"_

 _"No, Ma'am. We were not made aware of your visit."_

 _"That was not my fault. I had sent word ahead of me. How will I know she will not attack me?" Aurea watched him unlock several of the runed locks on the door._

 _There was a soft snort next to her. "This one stopped putting up a fight months ago. She's a bit touched. She's been in solitary since she's been here. We try not to encourage socialization with ones that are violent."_

 _"Then how does she receive her food? Someone must hand it to her."_ Open the damn door, man.

 _His metal booted foot kicked the bottom part of the door, and a small portion of metal slid into the door before sliding back into place._

 _"Clever. I'll speak to her alone, thank you."_

 _"Yes, Ma'am. Knock four times when you're done." With that, he turned on his heel and marched back down the hallway._

 _Her hand shook as she reached for the knob of the door. With a deep breath in, she twisted the knob and opened the door. She expected it to creak or groan while it swung open, but it made no sound. The room was black as pitch and completely silent. The sound of her heartbeat thundered in her ears. The door slipped from her fingers and she let it close._

 _"Nox?" her voice was quiet, a soft quiver slicing its way into her words. There was no response but a quiet noise from the corner_

 _A light kicked on above Aurea's head. The black room was filled with a near blinding light. The walls were black and probably soundproof; the floor was black cement._

 _Aurea turned her head and placed her fingers over her mouth. "Oh, Nox."_

 _The shadow of her sister flinched in the far corner of the small room, her bruises and skeletal body curled into itself protectively. Her skin was paler than it had ever been. Her hair was matted into black clumps. There was a smell in the room: a kind of rancid, bloody, filth that stung your nose and filled your mouth._

 _"Oh, Nox." Aurea walked as quietly as she could towards her sister. No matter how quiet, with each step Nox flinched and curled tighter. Gently, Aurea knelt down and put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Pup? Nox, look at me." Her hands carefully turned Nox's face towards her own. There were deep circles, or perhaps bruises, under her eyes. "Nox, I need you to look at me. It's Aurea, Nox."_

 _A blue-green gaze slowly began its rise. The normally white sclera were a light pink. It was hard to distinguish an emotion in her eyes. They were dull, almost lifeless._

 _"Hi." It was a dumb thing to say. "You and I are going to get out of here, okay? But I'm going to need your help. I need you to stand up. Can you do that? Just stand up?"_


	5. Homecoming

Parish was a small town an hour outside of New Orleans. It had a small mom and pop grocery store with a crawdad as a mascot. There were three churches, two of which were decrepit and decaying. The other lost more than half of its congregation. Only three people continued to be in attendance, the rest were fallen. There was a small post office, and a diner called Gertrude's.

Aurea wrinkled her nose at the large rusty metal crawdad hanging from the small iron bridge leading into town. It appeared to be the only way in and out of town on the north side. The Jeep rumbled as it went over the iron slats, shaking the bridge.

"Well that's sturdy, isn't it?" Aurea drummed her fingers against the steering wheel.

"We could have stayed where we were."

Aurea let the argument drop before it started. _We are tired, we are hungry, we smell, and she's a little angry with me._

"We could stop and get lunch at the diner coming up? The house might not have food."

"Aurea, we smell like dog and sweat."

Aurea nodded and sat in silence for a few moments. _The house might not even have running water. But we at least have those gallon jugs of water in the back. Sponge baths anyone?_

"Okay. I can drop you off at the house and come back in later for groceries."

Nox said nothing and continued to look out of the window. The town was small, that was certain. Small meant they would be easily noticed. But it could also mean that no one here knew what was happening outside their tiny radius. It could go either way for them. Nox prayed it was the later and that they wouldn't be noticed here. If they caught them now, they would both be killed. There would be no tranquility option for her. Not that she would take it if it were an option. _I would rather die than be made tranquil. No emotions, no me. Death is preferable._

They passed through town slowly, both taking their time to observe this first glimpse into their surroundings. Their new home. There was no one on the main street, a few cars were parked in front of Gertrude's. The diner seemed to be the busiest place in the town at that moment. There was a small sheriff's station, that also happened to be city hall, two blocks from the diner. Parked outside was a newer sports car, definitely the baby of whoever it belonged too.

The house lay just ten minutes outside of Parish. The small overgrown driveway was hard to see from the road. _Add one more thing to our advantage,_ Aurea thought. There were large trees on either side, covered with some kind of strong looking ivy. Every few feet, some of the old gravel of the drive poked through the grass and weeds. Hadar started to perk up the closer to the house they got, pacing in the backseat and chuffing. It was about a two-minute drive down the twisty, curvy road before the house came into view.

It was larger than the sisters remembered. Two stories, three in the middle, white stone with dozens of windows. There were large columns that ran from the base of the porch up to the third floor. The second story had a wrap around porch that mirrored the bottom, with a wrought iron railing that was rusting in some spots. The front door had two long and narrow panels of stained glass on the side, and three long and wide ones at the top. The panes of glass were blue and green, the Amell crest in the top middle pane.

Aurea stopped the car in the middle of the turn at the crest of the driveway. As soon as the sisters opened their door, Hadar was out of the car and began running all over the driveway and the yard. Aurea clasped her hands over her head and pulled her body taught into a stretch. The air smelled thick with swamp, dirt, and trees. It was a nice change from the stale car air. She watched Nox walking slowly up the porch, her legs shaking with the effort. Hadar ran up to walk beside her, his shoulders pressing against her calf.

"Stop. I'll go fist. We don't know what's inside…"

"There's magic here," Nox said flatly. "A protection sigil. It's one of Dad's." She traced her long fingers over the door. "It feels like him… I almost forgot what he felt like."

Aurea clenched her jaw. There was a pain in her throat and chest. _Jealousy?_

Nox let herself smile for the first time in years. It was like there was a lingering feeling of him, almost as if he was just there.

The gold-haired sister put her hand on the door, but she felt nothing. "Can you break it? Or get us in?"

Black hair shifted when her head shook. "I don't know if I can break it. It's strong."

 _There's power in the blood._

"Blood magic. Do you think Dad…"

"Maybe? He was always studying. He could have. Sigils are more powerful when written in blood." Her fingers traced over the seam of the door. There was no sure way to know if the door would open to a trap. Protection spells could be tricky. "Here, see? There carved into the wood."

There, on the right side of the door frame, and mirrored on the left, was a series of interconnecting lines and circles.

"That's it?"

"That's it. Now we just need to…"

Aurea pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket and drew it across her finger. Blood welled up almost immediately: a tiny flood coming to the surface. She pressed it to the mark on the door frame for a few seconds before she turned and did the same to the other side. "Like that?"

"Aurea!" Nox picked up her sister's hand and looked at her sister's finger. "Yes, like that, but that's– You're going to need stitches."

"My finger will be fine. How do we know if it worked?" Aurea stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked at it.

"We open the door."

 _Oh sure. That sounds like a solid plan._

Before waiting for her sister's approval, Nox opened the door with a twist of her wrist on the handle. There was a feeling, a cracking in the air, and then nothing. "It worked."

Nox entered the house before her sister. The heavy curtains blocked out most of the light from the floor to ceiling windows. The doorway opened up into a large hallway that stretched the length of the house from the front to the back. To the right was a living room, white sheets covering all the furniture. There was a fireplace on the front wall and a large silver mirror hanging over it. To the left and a few feet away from the door, was an entrance to a library. On the right side of the hallway were a set of stairs that led up to the second floor. There was a door on the left-hand side that led to a small bathroom. A kitchen settled at the back of the house and a dining room. There was a short hallway to the right that led to a greenhouse and one that led to a pool. Behind the kitchen was a small spell working room.

Aurea went upstairs and left Nox to the spell room. There were five bedrooms upstairs, each with their own bathroom. A few linen closets in the hall. Two sets of doors led out to the balcony. She entered into the first room, letting the door swing open to reveal sapphire walls decorated with gold trim. The furniture was covered with white sheets. Across from the bed was a white marble fireplace. There was a vase on the edge of the mantel that had dead flowers in it. They looked to be old roses.

The silence was interrupted by the loud rumbling of her stomach. She could investigate rooms later. _We need groceries._ She made her way back down the stairs, their creaking punctuating the thick silence.

"Nox?"

Hadar barked beside her and walked towards the back of the house. Aurea followed behind him, looking inside rooms as she passed. They found Nox still in the spell room, pouring herself over books.

"I'm heading out to get groceries. Can you see if you can find the water, gas, and power and turn them on? If you can't find them, I can when I get back. The power is the main concern though. We have to find a way to keep the food cold or frozen."

"Here." Nox handed Aurea a wad of cash. "Found it in one of the books. There's probably more strewn about the house. You know how Dad was."

Aurea nodded and pocketed the money. There looked to be about five hundred. It would be enough to get them started. In the meantime, she would need to find a job. She motioned for Hadar to stay and left the house.

* * *

The grocery store was bigger than she expected. A few of the ones they stopped at on the way down, the ones that were mom and pop places, were small. There was one cashier, a man at the meat counter, someone working produce and… that was it. The cashier looked up at her from his phone, studied her for five minutes, and then went back to it. She pulled a cart from the queue and began her mission. She had no idea what all they needed at the house.

 _Do we even have dishes?_

She grabbed paper plates and plastic silverware until she knew for sure. She went up and down each aisle twice. Picking things up and depositing them in the cart. She grabbed anything that struck her fancy. She didn't know how to cook, but Nox did. Since Nox was a child, she could cook anything you threw at her. Nox was a master of cooking things when it appeared there was nothing to cook, nothing that went together.

For a moment, Aurea felt normal. For a moment, she felt like nothing in the world had ever happened to them. Everyone outside of herself was gone. She was just a woman in a grocery store buying cherry wine. And vodka. Lots of vodka. She was lost to everyone and herself: it was a pleasant feeling. She didn't belong to anyone, she had no responsibilities. She forgot.

By the time she left the store, she had purchased three cartloads of groceries. She was also fairly certain that the clerk hated her for it. She apologized, explaining they just moved in and needed several things. The young man nodded with raised eyebrows, disinterested. She pushed the carts out, dragging one of them behind her, and began to load bags into the car.

"Need help with those?"

"No thank you, I have them."

"Aurea?"

She spun around quickly, hand reaching for the knife she had in her pocket. _Cullen Rutherford._ The ex-Templar stood in front of her in a sheriff's uniform. His face was that of shock. Her muscles locked, blood ran cold. She grabbed him by the throat, spun them both around so he was pinned against the door of the jeep. He held his hands up and met the fire in her eyes.

"Easy, Aurea. Easy."

"I'll kill you, Rutherford. Before you take her, I will kill you."

Cullen raised his eyebrows in question. "Who? Aurea, take who?"

She tightened her grip on his throat and jostled his head into the glass. "Don't play stupid, Rutherford."

"Nox? Nox is alive?"

Gold eyes watched his face for a few seconds. _He doesn't know. How could he not know?_ "You're a Templar, Rutherford. You know she is."

He looked… relieved. "Thank the Maker."

"What?"

"Aurea, I knew Nox. Did you really believe that I would think she did what they said she did? For Maker's sake, she isn't a monster."

"It wasn't so long ago that you thought she was."

"Aurea, that was different and you know it."

Somewhere in her mind, she did know it. Cullen Stanton Rutherford had his reasons for not liking mages. And they were valid reasons.

"Sorry." Still, she did not release her hold on his throat. His eyes were soft and held pity like a newborn babe. She hated him for it.

"I won't turn you in."

"I can't know that."

He placed his hand around her wrist. He exerted no pressure, didn't try to pull her hand from his neck, just held her. They stood like that for a few moments, the people inside the store finally starting to take notice. She slowly released her hold on him, stepping back onto the sidewalk and crossing her arms.

"What are you doing here?"

Aurea remained silent, tracing the scar on his lip with her eyes.

"My ice cream is going to melt."

She turned her back on him and started to load the groceries up once again. She ignored his presence behind her, watching her pick up bags and put them orderly into the car.

* * *

 _Everything was white. The walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, clothes. It was stark, blinding even, cold. It felt sterile and void of all emotion. They pushed her in a white and chrome wheelchair. Her wounds still hurt, ached like the day she got them. The red seeping through her bandages was the only sign of color. It was quiet, eerily so. Not even her wheelchair made a sound as the orderly pushed her down the long hallway._

 _She learned very quickly to keep her room in an orderly fashion. The first time her bed had a wrinkle in it, she was cut down to one meal a day. It was a bowl of rice and a glass of lukewarm water. The journal she was required to write in every day, had to be perfectly centered on her desk. The chair had to be pushed in and in the middle of the desk. The pen they gave her to write with had to be laid in a diagonal line across the journal. The lamp on the desk had to sit on the left, turned just so towards the right._

 _Each time she pushed the unspoken rule, the worse the punishments were. Solitary for two weeks, no food for three days, no water for two days, running until she passed out, ice baths. It was the ice baths that Aurea hated the most. They would force her in: grab her by the arms and legs, restrain her in the tub so she couldn't move or get out. Before her muscles went numb, they would ache like someone was slamming a sledgehammer into them. After a few moments, she couldn't move even if she wanted to. They would leave her there, for a few hours. They would take her out, dry her off, put clothes on her, and dump her on her bed with a thin blanket. Someone would stop in every few hours to make sure she was still breathing._

 _She hated to be cold._

* * *

"Aurea?"

Her hands were clenched tightly around one of the plastic bags.

"Aurea, can you hear me?" Cullen didn't touch her. He knew better than to touch her. "Aurea, can you hear me?"

* * *

 _"Aurea, can you hear me?"_

 _She shivered on top of her bed. When they dumped her there she was too tired to pull the blankets up around her, too tired to care. The room itself was cold, the bed colder. The guard shut the door to her room. For a moment, she thought he had left her alone. She closed her eyes to the world and let the shivering take over._

 _"Here." He ran his hands up her body. They burned._

Stop. This is wrong. Stop him. Aurea, get up.

 _His hands moved slowly over her legs, over her stomach, over her chest. She wanted to move to fight him, to scream, to bite, to hit, to kick. She was frozen. He rolled her on to her back, pulled her arms and legs so they were on the bed and away from her body. Her eyes stayed focused on the ceiling._

 _He was pulling her pants off and her underwear down. His hands were fire against her thighs._

 _"Easy now. Be a good girl."_

 _Bile rose sharp and burning in her throat._

 _"Be a good girl."_

 _He was unzipping his pants, taking himself in hand. She wanted to cry. Wanted to, but couldn't. Hadn't since her family was murdered. He moved himself on top of her. He wasn't an ugly man, wasn't a gorgeous man either. He had a freckle on the corner of his eye by his nose. He had pretty eyes. They were blue. Or maybe they were green._ Does it matter?

 _One of his hands was stroking her face._

 _What day was it?_

 _He settled between her legs._

 _There was a brown spot on her ceiling. Or was it really brown? Maybe it just looked brown compared to the rest of the ceiling._

 _She cried out when he entered her and his hand clamped over her mouth for a moment._

* * *

"Aurea, listen to me. It's Cullen. Can you hear me?"

She raised her eyes to meet his. _Rutherford._

His hands were held in front of him, a peaceful gesture. "You're safe, Aurea. You're safe here. Aurea, name me five things that you can see."

She opened her mouth.

"Come on, Aurea."

"Louisiana license plate. Crawdad mascot." She looked around again, blinking slowly in the bright sun. "Shopping carts. An orange cat. Yellow flowers."

"Good, that's good. What do you hear?"

"You. A car. There's a dog barking."

Cullen nodded, but still didn't touch the blonde in front of him. "Are you okay to drive?"

She nodded slowly. "I'll drive slow."

Cullen frowned but didn't argue. He couldn't push her. If he pushed her and she wasn't ready, she would never trust him. "I'm going to give you my card, okay? It has the station number, and my cell is on the back. Call me, Aurea."

He held the card out to her with outstretched fingers. She slowly took it from him, eyeing fine silver lines across his hands. Her gold eyes tracked him as he walked back to the station across the street. He had the air of being a tad more relaxed than he used to be.

She got into the jeep on shaking legs, using her arms to pull herself into the seat. The car idled for a few minutes and she stared at small flecks on the windshield. Slowly, she put it in drive and began her snail pace back to the house.


End file.
